Back to Anfield? Yes. Coutinho could be returning to Liverpool much sooner than anticipated with Brazil set to announce a glamour World Cup warm-up against Croatia at Anfield.

The diminutive play-maker took every conceivable step to engineer his £142 million move to Barcelona last month, bringing an end a successful stint with Liverpool and breaking the hearts of thousands of fans. Now, it looks as though he will be forced to face them with wounds still gaping as the Brazilian football federation closes in on an agreement with its Croatian counterpart for a game to be played on June 3.

Brazil have regularly made the trip over to Europe in recent international breaks and with England becoming something of a second home in recent years. The Emirates Stadium has, for example, played host to several of their friendlies. They will be making their way across the Atlantic for this summer's World Cup in Russia anyway and Croatia have jumped at the chance to test themselves again the pre-tournament favorites.

The report suggests Chelsea's Stamford Bridge was also in the running to host the game, but Liverpool's Croatian defender Dejan Lovren pushed for it to be played at his home ground.